Soundin' Off

At 10:01, the Sound Tigers’ third goalie came out of the room at Shelton, walked around the corner, pulled the mask over a bearded face and hit the ice wearing an orange Tiger for the first time.

And then Rick DiPietro practiced pretty hard. When they were using two nets, he had one to himself. When they used one, he got the bulk of the work, so much so that the team let out a kidding-around “heeey!” the first time DiPietro yielded to Scott Munroe… and then again the first time he yielded to Nathan Lawson.

He appeared to be moving around pretty well under Sudsie Maharaj’s watch. He stretched a lot, but I seem to remember him stretching a lot in the past, too. All indications are that his mindset is good. He said he plans to play this like any other game: “I’m going to go in and do what I always do,” he said. And he wasn’t sure how long he would play.

In other news, Joel Rechlicz has medical clearance to come back, so he’ll be available this weekend. Micheal Haley should be ready to go, too. Greg Mauldin didn’t practice; after Wednesday’s game, he admitted he was a little banged up after the goal but said he expected to be ready to play the weekend. Jeremy Reich continues to get better but isn’t expected this weekend.

It was, meanwhile, a veritable convention of non-playing Bridgeport goalies. Brett Abel was there for CCM; his immediate successor in the backup’s chair, Lenny DiCostanzo, was in town to help DiPietro out. He said his agent has a lead on a couple of jobs, so hopefully he’ll be back in the crease soon, too. Anybody seen Dan Lombard? Jim Sanca couldn’t be far.

And Sue Haar and Rick Cohen were filming a few players’ holiday thoughts and memories. Some of the results will appear at the arena and online in the weeks to come, but lemme tell you: Had they simply left the tape running on Jesse Joensuu and Matt Martin, they could have filled two intermissions. Comedy gold.